Mrs. Linklater's Football Play-Offs Update Update Update

Well, MY old high school lost in the second round of the playoffs. 35-7. They played the number one seed in the bracket of sixteen. They lost just as I predicted. That number one seed is now in the semi finals. One of the coaches said that we could have won if we had made NO mistakes and the other team had made a couple. But after the first interception, I knew we were in for a long day.

However, the real reason I think we lost wasn't because of the mistakes, the injuries, the coaching, or any of the usual culprits. I'm convinced it was the color of our uniforms. They're green. Green is not tough enough. It's a pussy color for a football team. The schools that win the most are usually wearing red or black. Someone did a study once to prove that theory. No, I can't cite it, but over time I've become a believer. This could be Rutgers' year, since they're the Scarlet Knights and I think their colors are red and black. Oops, I checked. SCARLET and white. But I bet the coaches have figured a way to work some black into their uniforms, too.

THEIR team, not Rutgers, the team that beat MY team, has all black uniforms with orange helmets. They look very intimidating on the field. OUR team looks like Kermit the Frog.

So, armed with this important information, I plan to check out the colors of the teams in the semis and make my predictions of who the winners will be by their uniforms. 

For now, I'm putting my money on the team that beat us, since they wear black. If there's a red team I'll have to weigh all my options. Does black beat red or vice versa? Interesting that the team that beat MY team for the league's conference championship also wears black. With red helmets. They just lost in the quarterfinals of the state championships. I should check out the uniforms of the team that beat them.  Hmmmm.

When Northwestern was being coached by Gary Barnett, one of the first things he did as a new coach was to change the color of their uniforms. Until he arrived, the Wildcats' colors were just purple and white. At one point the team even voted to call themselves The Purple Haze. The vote did not pass.  Considering that before Barnett, NU had spent years in the Big Ten cellar, a change was in order. So Barnett added black to the uniform. Purple became an accent color. And they went to the Rose Bowl for the first time in almost fifty years.

Red won't help MY team. They'll look like Christmas tree ornaments.  But something as simple as black helmets, socks and shoes couldn't hurt.

The good news is MY school just beat THEIR school for the state soccer championship. Green doesn't matter in soccer. Na na na na na.  And MY school has more state championships than any other high school in Illinois, but they've never won one in football. Because football is the only sport where wearing green uniforms can cost you points. And not just style points.